Two-piece air actuated sound maker with integral reeds



Oct. 19, 1965 s. FREIMAUER TWO-PIECE AIR ACTUATED SOUND MAKER WITH INTEGRAL REEDS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 10, 1965 INVENTOR. 5/4 Fee/M140 Anne/vars Oct. 19, 1965 s. F REIMAUER TWO-PIECE AIR ACTUATED SOUND MAKER WITH INTEGRAL REEDS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 10, 1963 .W% A r: Q

United States Patent Office 3,212,215 Patented Oct. 19, 1965 3,212,215 TWO-PIECE AIR ACTUATED SOUND MAKER WITH INTEGRAL REEDS Sam Freimauer, Hillside, N.J., assignor to Frey-Lieb Company, Inc., Newark, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Jan. 10, 1963, Ser. No. 250,605 16 Claims. (Cl. 46180) This invention relates to an air actuated sound maker. The term sound as utilized herein refers both to noise and to tones so that the sound maker of my present invention embraces both a device which will generate noise, the same sometimes being referred to herein as a noise maker, and to a device which will emit one or more individual tones, the same sometimes being referred to herein as a tone maker. A tone maker, of course, is essentially a musical instrument in contrast to a noise maker which creates a harsh or raucous sound.

Sound makers are employed for many purposes, their most widespread use being in connection with toys. For example, they are employed in dolls, animals and various other hollow flexible resilient articles, being so mounted that when such an article is manipulated to create either a superatmospheric or a subatmospheric pressure within the article air will be passed through the sound maker causing it to emit a sound. Conventionally the article in which the sound maker is mounted includes a thin wall having an opening frictionally gripping the sides of the sound maker near an end thereof to hold it in place.

Although the construction of a standard sound maker is basically simple, constituting, in essence, a passageway, usually of tubular configuration, through which air can flow and a vibratory element so mounted with respect to the passageway that the flow of air through the passageway will cause the element to vibrate and so generate sound, sound makers nevertheless are subject to one serious drawback from the point of view of United States (domestic) manufacturers. Most sound makers are constructed from plural different parts of simple configuration which have to be assembled to complete a finished sound maker. The assembly operations can be carried out by hand as well as by machine. Machine assembly involves a substantial outlay of money for initial design and original equipment cost whereas hand assembly is simpler to carry out. The problem has been that hand assembly in the United States entails a prohibitively high cost in comparison with hand assembly in foreign countries due to the much higher United States labor scale. Therefore, at the present time domestic manufacturers have great difiiculty in competing with foreign manufacturers of sound makers, and, accordingly most sound makers incorporated in toys sold in the United States are of foreign origin.

It has been proposed to fabricate sound makers from a single piece of metal, but such a construction needs complex machinery which would be expensive to manufacture, so that one piece sound makers have not held back the vast influx of foreign-made sound makers into the United States.

It is an object of my present invention to provide a novel sound maker which will overcome the foregoing difficulty, that is to say, a sound maker which involves a minimum of assembly and parts so that its finished cost is competitive with the delivered cost of a sound maker of foreign origin imported into the United States.

More specifically, it is an object of my invention to provide a molded plastic sound maker the tubular casing of which is so constructed as to constitute plural integrally joined individual pieces which are capable of being speedily and simply manipulated and interconnected to form the desired finished shape of casing and at the same time to readily accommodate any insert which is to be placed within the casing.

It is another object of my invention to provide a sound maker of the character described the construction of which is such that the plural pieces of the tubular casing can be interconnected in their finished form without the utilization of any machinery to deform the pieces so as to interlock the same or without the use of any separate fastening means such, for instance, as cement, thereby avoiding the added expense of such machinery or the hand operations entailed in the use of separate fastening means.

It is another object of my invention to provide a sound maker of the character described the integrated individual pieces of the casing of which are so contoured that a sound maker of rather complex configuration can be made by simple manipulation of a single intermediate product molded in an ordinary two part die, thereby minimizing the cost of the die, shortening the molding cycle and avoiding the inclusion of additional die parts which would give rise to extra maintenance and repair.

It is an additional object of my invention to provide an intermediate product consisting of a single molded plastic product which is composed of plural pieces of a tubular casing joined, i.e., integrated, to one another in a configuration which permits these pieces to be readily brought together to form a finished casing.

Other objects of my invention in part will be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.

My invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, arrangements of parts and series of steps which will be exemplified in the air actuated sound makers, intermediate products and assembly methods hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which are shown various possible embodiments of my invention,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a finished tone maker constructed in accordance with my invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective exploded view of said tone maker, the tubular casing of the same being shown in half closed position rather than in the fully closed position of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an axial longitudinal enlarged sectional view of the tone maker, the same being taken substantially along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the intermediate molded product from which the tone maker tubular casing is assembled, said intermediate product being illustrated as viewed from the surface which ultimately will form the interior of the casing and the two half-shells which compose the casing being illustrated as spread apart;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 6-6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 of a noise maker embodying a modified form of my invention;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 2 of the noise maker of FIG. '7; and

FIG. 9 is an axial longitudinal enlarged sectional view of the noise maker, the same being taken substantially along the line 9-9 of FIG. 7.

In general, I achieve the several objects of my invention by providing a tubular casting for an air actuated sound maker which casing consists of two matching halftubular (semi-cylindrical) pieces that are basically mirror images of one another so that when joined together with their concave sides facing one another and in registration they will make up a finished tubular casing the two halves of which meet at a junction zone which lies in a plane that is parallel to and adjacent a diametral longitudinal plane of the casing. These two half-tubular pieces are molded from a synthetic plastic material, preferably a thermoplastic material and preferably by injection molding, in such a fashion that the two pieces form parts of a single unitary intermediate product with the pieces spread 180 apart so that they are in axial alignment. The pieces are jointly molded with their concave sides facing in the same direction and with the peripheries of said pieces lying in a common plane. Said pieces are joined to one another by one or more, preferably two, thin hinge sections in one piece with the unitary intermediate product and lying in the said common plane, thereby being so positioned that the two pieces can be relatively swung about the hinge sections into peripheral contact with each other so as to form the finished tubular casing.

Moreover, one of the pieces is fashioned with at least one barbed, that is to say, hook-shaped, latch and the other piece is fashioned with at least one detent, i.e., catch, which is arranged to be engaged and caught by the barbed latch when the two matching pieces are peripherally abutted in facing registered relationship so as with the aid of the now flexed hinge sections to hold the two pieces together in the shape of the finished sound maker tubular casing. Thereby after the two pieces have been molded as a single unitary intermediate product the casing is finished by simply swinging the two pieces about their hinge sections until the hook snaps into engagement with the detent. Such method of assembly is extremely rapid and requires very little skill or time on the part of an assembler. Moreover, by making the casing of two longitudinally split matching halves adapted to be peripherally abutted against one another the relatively complex shape of the casing can be fashioned in a simple two part mold.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1-6, the reference numeral 10 denotes a sound maker in the form of a tone maker, that is to say, a. sound maker which, when actuated, will generate a sound comprising one or more musical tones. Said tone maker 10 includes a casing 12 of elongated generally tubular configuration which is open at the air actuating end and is closed at the opposite end. The casing is fabricated from a thermoplastic synthetic resin. Since the particular sound maker 10 described in this embodiment of my invention is a tone maker and since in this form of my in vention it is desirable to have the vibratory element or elements molded in one piece with the casing 12, the synthetic thermoplastic that is employed should be one which is sulficiently rigid for the vibratory element to emit a clear musical tone when energized. For this purpose it is desirable to employ a somewhat rigid plastic. A suitable such plastic is polystyrene. I have been able to make a tubular casing (including the vibratory element) that is excellent from a tonal standpoint from an ordinary working polystyrene, this being a styrene polymer which is not modified by a flexiblizing agent. Nevertheless, good results are obtained where an elastomeric additive (modifier) is utilized as a flexiblizing agent, such for instance as a Buna-S monomer which is added to the styrene monomer and copolymerized therewith. Alternatively, a polymerized Buna-S can be added to polystyrene and extruded therewith as a mixture. Such a copolymer or mixture in which the flexiblizing agent constitutes about 5% by weight is generally known as a medium impact resin and yields highly satisfactory results. The advantage of employing such a flexiblizing agent lies in increasing the flexibility of the hinge section.

If desired I also may employ a high impact type of Buna-S modified polystyrene resin in which the Buna-S component is as much as Such a high impact resin, however, somewhat deteriorates the tonal quality of the sound produced by the vibratory element and where .the sound maker is to be employed as a tone maker with the vibratory element in one piece with the casing I prefer not to include the higher amount of the flexiblizing agent. Nevertheless if, as is the case in the second form of my invention to be described hereinafter, the vibratory element is not in one piece with the tubular casing the larger amount of the flexiblizing agent is more desirable and, indeed, an even greater amount thereof, for example 20% of Buna-S, is advantageously employed.

The tubular casing 12 basically consists of two matching elongated half-shells 14, 16 which are for the most part mirror images of one another. Each half-shell is basically of hollow half-cylindrical shape so that when the concave sides of the half-shells face one another peripherally and are abutted and in registry they will form an elongated tube (casing). The tone producing section T of each half shell is formed with end walls 18, 20, these two end walls butting up against one another in edge-toedge relationship when the two half-shells are swung together to form a finished casing so that said end of the casing (remote from the air actuating end) is closed to the passage of air.

The casing 12 also is provided with a mounting section 22 which consists of an external annular groove 24 adjacent the air actuating end of the tone maker. One half of the annular groove is formed in each of the halfshells 14, 16 (see FIGS. 2, 5 and 6). One side wall of the annular groove is defined by an annular flange 26 at the air actuating end of the casing opposite to the closed end formed by the end walls 18, 20. The other side wall of the annular groove constitutes the wide end of a frustoconical section 28 one longitudinally split half of which is provided on each of the half shells 14, 16.

The width of the annular groove matches the thickness of the wall of the hollow article into which the tone maker 10 is to be thrust so that when the tone maker is in place in the wall of the article said wall will frictionally engage the sides and base of the annular groove whereby to be securely held in place. It may be mentioned that it is customary practice to position a sound maker such as the tone maker 10 by introducing the end of the casing remote from the air actuating end into a hole in a hollow resilient article, said sound maker being approached to the hole from the exterior of the article. The narrow end of the frustoconical section 28 will enter into and expand said hole to permit passage through the expanded hole of the wide end of the frustoconical section. Then when the annular groove 24 reaches the expanded hole the sides of the hole will snap into the groove and the tone maker will be prevented from moving further through the hole by the flange 26 so that this flange in addition to aiding in defining the annular groove 24 acts as a stop member that locates the sound maker and prevents it from being pushed any further into the hollow article.

One or both of the half-shells 14, 16, in this instance both of the half-shells, of the tone maker 10 are formed with vibratory elements 30, 32. Each vibratory element is molded in one piece with the associated half-shell. Since the sound maker 10 is adapted to produce musical tones the vibratory elements are configured in the shape of reeds one end of each of which is unitarily anchored to the casing and the other end and sides of which are free of the casing. Each reed is located directly above a matching slot 34, 36 in the casing. As is customary, the slot is slightly larger (longer and wider) than the reed, although the two are substantially coextensive. By way of example, a reed which has a width of 0.075" and a free length of 0.580 may have a width which is about 0.006" and a length which is about 0.007" less than the width and length of the associated slot. It will be appreciated that the tone producing vibratory reeds and their associated slots lie entirely within the tone producing section T of the casing.

Each reed may be disposed to be positioned either outside of, i.e., beyond the covex surface of, or inside of,

i.e., within the concave surface of, its associated halfshell, depending upon whether the reed is to emit a sound upon passage of air out of the air actuating end from within the casing or vice versa. Thus, as is well known, where the reed is external to the casing it will produce a musical tone when air flows into the casing through the air actuating (open) end thereof and leaves the casing through the slot beneath the reed. Contrariwise, when air flows outwardly through the open end of the casing, the vibratory reed which is within the casing will sound as air passes through its asociated slot and into the casing over the edges and end of the reed. Thus, the external vibratory element 30 is, in effect, a blow or exhale reed while the internal vibratory element is a draw or inhale reed. Both of the reeds are symmetrically disposed with respect to the centers of their associated slots so that the clearance between the edges of the reeds and the edges of the slots are approximately equal. Furthermore, there is a slight space in the order, for example, of 0.005 between the adjacent outer side of the slot and the nearest face of the reed.

Upon occasion it may be desired to withdraw a finished and installed tone maker from the opening in an article in which it is mounted. To prevent the wall of the article from catching the free tip of the reed during such a withdrawing action, I provide a bump 37 integral with the half-shell 14 on which the external reed 30 is carried. Said hump is higher than the reed and is located immediately adjacent the tip thereof.

The foregoing construction, i.e., a casing composed of two half-shells each with an internal or external reed and an associated slot, is particularly advantageous since it permits both half-shells and vibratory elements to be cast in a simple two-part mold without requiring the use of movable members in the mold to form undercuts.

Pursuant to a principal feature of my invention the two half-shells are cast, preferably by injection moldings, in the form of a one-piece intermediate product 38 which is best shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. This intermediate product is composed of the two half-shells 14, 16 arranged in oppositely extending end-to-end relationship (180 apart) with the two similar ends of the half-shells, preferably the air actuating half ends bearing the halves of the flange 26, very close together. The two half-shells are aligned with one another, that is to say, their longitudinal centers are in exact alignment. Moveover, the two half-shells have their concave sides similarly oriented which is another way of saying that the concave sides of the two half-shells face in the same direction. The edges (peripheries) of said concave sides lie in a common plane. The end walls 18, 20 of the two half-shells are remote from one another as the result of the flanged ends being close together.

Furthermore, the two half shells which form the intermediate product are integrally joined by diametrically opposed hinge sections 40, 42. Phased difierently, these sections are molded in one piece with the intermediate product, i.e., with the two half-shells, and have one face of each section located at or adjacent the common plane of the peripheries of the half-shells at the flanged ends. The two hinge sections form bridges or strips which are short in the direction of the length of the product and which unitarily join the flanged ends of the two halfshells. Said sections are situated near the longitudinal peripheries of the half-shells and are elongated in a direction transverse to the length of said peripheries, the longitudinal axes of the sections being aligned. The hinged sections are of slight transverse cross-sectional dimensions so that they can be readily flexed about their longitudinal axis. For example, the dimension of each hinged section in the direction parallel to the longitudinal axes of the half-shells is in the order of about 0.010" to about 0.020", while the thickness of the hinge sections, this being the dimension perpendicular to the common plane of the peripheries of the half-shells, is about 0.010". The

dimension of the hinge sections in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axes of the half-shells and in said common plane is conveniently made as long as is obtainable, e.g., approximately equal to or somewhat in excess of the thickness of the walls of the half-shells. Satisfactory results are obtained where this dimension is ing the vicinity of one-sixteenth of an inch.

By virtue of these hinged sections, after the intermediate product consisting of the two halfshells, has been sufficiently cooled for withdrawal from its mold, the two half-shells can be swung apart with respect to one another, using the two hinged sections as a pivot, until said half-shells have their longitudinal side peripheries juxtaposed with their concave sides facing one another whereby to form the completed, i.e., finished, tubular casing.

It will be appreciated that the flange 26 at the air actuating end of the casing is formed with a large central aperture 44 to provide an opening through which air can flow into or out of the tubular casing 12. As a result, the flanged ends of the intermediate product are formed with semicircular notches 46, 48 which conjoin to define the aperture 44 in the finished casing. The hinge sections 40, 42 are located on opposite sides of the aforesaid notches 46, 48 as can be seen from inspection of FIG. 5.

As was noted previously, the flanged ends of the two half-shells are situated very near one another in the intermediate product, this proximity being desirable'to permit the matching longitudinal side peripheries of the halfshells to approach one another closely at the flanged ends and thereby inhibit flow of air between the two juxtaposed side peripheries in a finished tubular casing. Due to the consequent correspondingly small dimension of each hinge section 40, 42 in the direction of the length of the halfshells and to the preference for employing a minimum amount of flexibilizing agent (Buna-S) in order to secure clear musical tones for the vibratory elements, when the hinge sections act as pivots as the two-half-shells are swung 180 into juxtaposition in the manner described above, said sections are severely stressed, even to a degree beyond the yield point of the plastic employed so that, consequently, deformation of the sections takes place and often crazing, cracks and partial fractures appear in the hinge sections in the finished casing. However, I have found that single ones of these generated defects do not run the full length and depth of a hinge section so that the hinge sections still serve satisfactorily to hold the flanged ends of the halfshells in a finished casing together. The stresses tending to separate these flanged ends are minimal. After a finished casing has been inserted in a hole in a hollow article these. stresses are non-existent. Moreover, when the completed tone maker is handled either at its point of insertion into a toy or when the tone maker is being assembled there is no reason to try to separate the two half-shells after they have been swung together so that the connection at the hinge sections is sufficiently strong to prevent the separation of the two half-shells against anything but a deliberate application of force to part such shells. Actually I have found that the two half-shells can be swung together or apart a few times, as many as five or six times. before the repeated and unnecessary deliberate flexing will completely break either hinge section.

In further pursuance [of my invention, I provide means for automatically couplingly engaging the two half-shells to one another at one or more points remote from the hinge sections, said means being automatically operable to interconnect the half-shells simply upon swinging the two half-shells into juxtaposition.

Specifically, said automatic coupling means constitutes a barbed or hook-shaped latch on one of the half-shells and a detent or catch engageable by said latch and carried by the other half-shell. Referring in particular to the tone maker 10, the half-shell 16 is provided with a thin broad tongue 50 of wedge-shaped cross-section adjacent and integral with but offset outwardly from the end Wall 20. Said tongue protrudes away from the concave side of sald half-shell and beyond the plane of the longitudinal periph eral sides of said half-shell. In the finished casing the length of the tongue (root to tip) is perpendicular to the plane junction zone of the longitudinal peripheral edges of the two half-shells and protrudes beyond said zone onto the side of the zone on which the other half-shell 14 is located. The broad side of the tongue is perpendicular to the length of the casing. The tongue 50 is formed with an upwardly tapering barb 52, i.e., a hook, having a lower shoulder 54 which faces the half-shell 16 on which the tongue is carried. This shoulder does not constitute an undercut on the half of the die used to mold the intermediate product 38 since it faces in the same direction as the externally convex side of the half-shell 16, thus creating no molding problem.

Cooperating with the barbed tongue (latch) 50 is a catch '56 carried by an unitary with the other half-shell 14. Said catch, as shown, comprises a tab 58 projecting outwardly from the end wall 18 in a direction axially of the length of the finished casing. The tab is formed with a transversely elongated aperture 60 in registry with the tongue 50 when the two half-shells are swung together. The transverse outer edge of the aperture 60 lies in the path of travel of the barb 52 when the two half-shells are swung into juxtaposition so that at such time the tongue will enter the aperture and by the camming action of the tongue on said edge be fixed slightly toward the end wall 18. The flexing is sufiicient to allow the shoulder 54 to clear, i.e., pass by, said outer transverse edge of the aperture 60 on which the outer face of the barb 52 rides. As soon as the shoulder clears the tab 58 the tongue will snap out so that the shoulder 54 will engage the facing surface of the tab and retain the two half-shells in locked together relationship at this, the closed, end of the finished casing. The parts are so configured that the barb clears the tab just as the two half-shells are brought into juxtaposition. Thus, the two half-shells are held together at one end of the casing by the flexed hinge sections and at the other end of the casing by the interlocked barb 52 and catch 56 whereby the two halves of the casing are automatically coupled to one another in finished position and will remain so unless deliberately disturbed.

Means is included to form an air seal that will inhibit air leakage through the zone where the two longitudinal edges and end walls of the half-shells are juxtaposed. Such means includes a groove or mortise 62 running along the inner surface of the peripheral edges of the half-shell 14 except at the flanged end thereof (the air actuating end) and a matchingly shaped positioned and dimensioned flange or tongue 64 on the half-shell 16. Said flange 64 and groove 62 interengage as the two half-shells reach juxtaposition so that the longitudinal edges thereof need not actually touch in the closed position of the casing 12. Said tongue and groove snugly interengage one another and thereby additionally function to prevent relative lateral movement of the two coupled half-shells.

Desirably, the interior casing 12 is longitudinally subdivided at an area intermediate the inhale and exhale reeds so that each of said reeds is provided with its own individual air compartment. To this end I provide a flat partition 66 which is placed within the half-shell 14 before the two half-shells are swung into coupled engagement in the manner described above. The thickness of the partition is considerably less than the depth of the groove 62 and said partition has a plan configuration which matches the plan configuration defined by said groove. Thus, the partition can be nicely fitted into the half-shell 14 along the groove 62 before the half-shells are closed upon one another. To prevent rattling, the combined height of the flange 64 and thickness of the partition 66 are approximately equal to the depth of the groove 62 whereby when the two half-shells are coupled the partition will be pressed against the base of the groove by the flange 64.

.' The actual plan configuration of the groove 62 and, therefore, the basic shape of a longitudinal cross-section of the interior of the tubular casing is such that the tone producing section T where the vibratory reeds are located is of a uniform somewhat lesser diameter than that of the air actuating end of the casing and these two parts of the casing are joined by a tapering section the axial position of which is the same as that of the frustooonical exterior position 28. This shaping of the two half-shells and the corresponding shape of the partition is best seen in FIG. 2 which illustrates the two half-shells after they have been swung about towards one another from their initial iend-to-end aligned apart) position in which they were located in the intermediate product 38 as molded.

It will be appreciated that the assembly of the tone maker is very speedy (and requires no machinery or separate fastening means and that the intermediate product can be inexpensively molded in large quantities whereby finished domestic tone makers can be fabricated at a price that companes favorably with that of imported sound makers.

A sound maker embodying the novel tubular casing which I have detailed in the foregoing portion of my specification can be used in connection with a noise maker VHS well as with a tone maker, :and in *FIGS. 7-9 this alternative utilization of the casing has been illustrated. I there have shown .a noise maker 68 including a casing 70 consisting of two matching elongated half-shells 72, '74 which, except for the modifications necessary to make the sound maker function as a noise maker rather than as a tone maker, are basically the same as the half-shells 14, 16.

Thus, said half-shells 72, 74 :are molded from a synthetic plastic and are cast in one piece with one another in 180 spread apart position, being joined by hinge sections 76, 78 at their adjacent ends. Since in the noise maker '68 the vibratory element is not molded in one piece with the casing, the synthetic plastic material employed can be more flexible than in the case of the tone maker -10 and I prefer to employ for said noise maker a high impact type of Buna-S modified polystyrene resin.

The two half-shells 72, 74 are formed with a flange 80 at the air actuating end of the casing 70, said flange including a central aperture 82 consisting of a semicircular notch 84 at the air actuating end of each half-shell. The concave sides of the half-shells [face one another to define :an elongated hollow interior when the half-shells are swung into juxtaposition.

The tubular casing 70 is provided on its external surface with thin longitudinally extending Wedges 86, four such wedges being spaced equiangu'larly around the casing to oonjointly define a frustoconical section having the same functions as the frustoconioal section 28 of the tone maker 10, including, inter alia, tfonmi-ng one side wall of .a skeletonized annular groove 88 which is employed to secure the noise maker in place in a hollow article.

For an air seal the end edge and both peripheral side edges of only the halt-she'll 74 are formed with an upstanding flange 90. The flanges at the peripheral side edges of said half-shell 74 are adapted to be engaged by the peripheral side edges of the half-shell 72. The flange at the end of the half shell 74 opposite from the air actuating end of the noise maker blocks, i.e., closes, the associated end of the halfashell 74. There is no corresponding wall or flange blocking the adjacent end of the half-shell 72 (see FIG. 9) which thus is left open.

The casing of the noise maker =68 includes an automatic coup-ling means for interengaiging th two halfhell t a zone spaced from the hinge sections axially of the casing 70. Said automatic coupling means includes a pair of barbed broad tongues '92 molded in one piece with the half-shell 74 and protruding upwardly there'finom toward the half-shell 72. The barbs 94 of these tongues define shoulders similar to the shoulders 54 of the tongues 50. The broad surfaces of the tongues are parallel to the length of the casing 70 and tace one another across the half-shell 74. Said barbed tongues act as latches. The cooperating catches consist of a pair of parallel slots 96 which are aligned with the tongues 92 when the two half-shells are swung into juxtaposition. The slots are so positioned and dimensioned that the outer edges thereof will be cammingly engaged by the upwardly tapering barbs 94 so as to flex the tongues 92 inwardly when the two heif shells lane swung into juxtaposition. However, the shoulders of the barbs clear the upper edges of the slots when the two i alf-rsilrells are juxtaposed so that the tongues will spring out and lock the two half-shells to- :gether.

'I he sounding device of the noise maker 68 comprises a conventional metal vibratory reed 9 8 is of proper shape to be clamped I ctween the two half-shells. The center 100 of the need is necked so as to enable it to be fitted between the tongues '94. The ends of the reeds are positioned near the ends of the two halfsshel'ls. IThe halfshell 7 4 has its periphenal side edges sloped away from the ends of the need so as to leave said ends free to vibrate as is customary in noise makers.

In order for the reed to function pnopenly, its center should be held stationary and for this purpose the halfshell 72 is tfiormed with an internal boss 102 molded in one piece therewith and dimensioned to press against the neolced portion of the reed 'when the two ha'lfashel-ls are swung into juxtaposition and locked, this being clearly shown in FIG. 9. The opposite surta-c'e of the reed rests on shoulders 101 on the half-she'll 74.

To aid in insuring proper matching neg istry of the two half-shells as they are swung into juxtaposition I may provide locating means such as a pair of pilot pins 104, the same being disposed adjacent the end of the half-shell 72 which is associated with the closed end of the half-shell 7'4. Said pilot pins are positioned to engage the inner c-orners defined by the iongi'tudinal side edge and end edge flanges 90.

As has been indicated, all of the parts of the noise maker 68, except for the vibratory element 9 8, that is to say, all of the parts which make up the casing 70 and the means joining the casing, are molded as a single intermediate product, pneferably by injection molding. At the time of molding the two half-shells are aligned and have their peripheral side edges in substantially a common plane with the hinge sections 76, 78 having one face thereof in this plane. In other words, the two half-shells, as in the case of the half-shells '14, 1 6, along with the hinge sections and coupling means, constitute an intermerlliate product wherein the two half-shells are spread apart To make a finished noise maker the vibratory element is inserted in the half-shell 74 and the two half-shells swung together into juxtaposition while flexing the hinge sections. Since a high impact resin is used, the hinge sections do not tend to develop any faults, although, as noted previously, the presence of such faults is not a drawback to the tone maker.

It thus will be seen that I have provided devices and a method of making the same which achieve the several objects of my invention, and which are well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiments set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. An air actuated sound maker comprising:

(a) a tubular casing including a pair of molded match ing hollow half-cylindrical half-shells of synthetic plastic material, said casing having an air actuating end including an air passing aperture,

(b) said half-shells having peripheral side edges positioned in mutually registered and juxtaposed relationship to define said casing,

(c) two transversely aligned diametrically spaced and opposed hinge sections at one end of said casing, said hinge sections being located at said air actuating end on opposite sides of said aperture,

(d) said hinge sections being molded in one piece with the two half-shells with the half shells spread apart and being flexed by swinging the half-shells into juxtaposition and said hinge sections unitarily joining said half-shells at the ends of said side edges located at said one end of the casing,

(e) a latch and catch coupling means spaced from the hinge sections in a direction perpendicular to the alignment of the hinge sections and automatically engaging when the half-shells are swung into juxtaposition, said coupling means including a latch molded in one-piece with one half-shell and a catch molded in one-piece with the other half-shell, and

(f) a vibratory element carried by said casing and positioned and supported thereby to be actuated so as to emit a sound when air flows through said casing.

2. An air actuated sound maker as set forth in claim 1 wherein each of the hinge sections is elongated in the direction of the axis about which it is flexed and is perpendicular to the length of the casing extending away from the hinged edges of the half shells.

3. An air actuated sound maker as set forth in claim 1 wherein each of the hinge sections has a face in the plane of the peripheral side edges of the half-shells.

4. An air actuated sound maker as set forth in claim 1 in which the latch is a barbed tongue.

5. An air actuated sound maker as set forth in claim 4 wherein the catch is a detent.

6. An air actuated sound maker as set forth in claim 1 wherein the coupling means is at the end of the tubular casing opposite to the end at which the hinge sections are located.

7. An air actuated sound maker as set forth in claim 1 wherein a second vibratory element is carried by the casing and is positioned and supported thereby to be actuated so as to emit a sound when air flows through said casing, both said vibratory elements being reeds molded in one-piece with the casing.

8. An air actuated sound maker as set forth in claim 1 wherein a second vibratory element is carried by the casing and is positioned and supported thereby to be actuated so as to emit a sound when air flows through said casing, both said vibratory elements being reeds molded in one-piece with the casing.

9. An air actuated sound maker as set forth in claim 8 wherein an internal partition is provided which is located between the two juxtaposed half-shells to define a different air chamber for each vibratory element.

10. An air actuated sound maker as set forth in claim 1 wherein a matching tongue and groove are provided along the peripheral side edges of the half-shells which inter-engage when the half-shells are juxtaposed and which form an air seal along the sides of the casing.

11. An air actuated sound maker as set forth in claim 1 wherein a duplicate latch and catch coupling means is provided, said two latch and catch coupling means being lgcalted on opposite peripheral side edges of the halfs el s.

12. An air actuated sound maker as set forth in claim 1 wherein the vibratory element is a separate reed interposed between the two juxtaposed half-shells and wherein one of the half-shells is provided with a boss which presses against a transversely extending intermediate portion of said reed.

13. An air actuated sound maker as set forth in claim 1 wherein the two ends of the half-shells joined by the hinge sections are very near to one another when the half-shells are spread apart.

14. An intermediate product for forming an air actuated sound maker constituting a tubular casing having an air actuating end including an air passing aperture comprising:

(a) a pair of molded matching half-shells of synthetic plastic arranged in oppositely extending end-to-end aligned relationship with the two adjacent ends of the half-shells having their concave sides facing in the same direction, the peripheral side edges of the concave sides lying in a common plane,

(b) two hinge sections molded in one-piece with the two half-shells, said hinge sections unitarily joining said half-shells and being aligned transversely of the length of the half-shells and being diametrically spaced and opposed so that they can be flexed to enable the half-shells to be swung about the hinge sections into juxtaposition so as to form a tubular casing with the hinge sections located at the air actuating end thereof on opposite sides of the air passing aperture, and

(c) a latch and catch coupling means spaced from the hinge sections in a direction perpendicular to the alignment of the latter and positioned to automatically engage when the half-shells are swung into juxtaposition, said last-named means including a latch molded in one-piece with one half-shell and a catch molded in one-piece with the other half-shell. 15. An air actuated sound maker as set forth in claim 1 wherein the vibratory element is a reed integral with 5 a half-shell.

16. An air actuated sound maker as set forth in claim 15 wherein the reed is external to the half-shell, wherein the base of the reed is joined to the half-shell adjacent the end of the tubular casing which is thrust into an opening for mounting the sound maker and wherein the casing includes a bump protruding from the outer surface of the casing adjacent the free end of the reed and positioned so as to protect the same when the sound maker is withdrawn from said opening.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner.

RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Examiner. 

1. AN AIR ACTUATED SOUND MAKER COMPRISING: (A) A TUBULAR CASING INCLUDING A PAIR OF MOLDED MATCHING HOLLOW HALF-CYLINDRICAL HALF-SHELLS OF SYNTHETIC PLASTIC MATERIAL, SAID CASING HAVING AN AIR ACTUATING END INCLUDING AN AIR PASSING APERTURE, (B) SAID HALF-SHELLS HAVING PERIPHERAL SIDE EDGES POSITIONED IN MUTUALLY REGISTERED AND JUXTAPOSED RELATIONSHIP TO DEFINE SAID CASING, (C) TWO TRANSVERSELY ALIGNED DIAMETRICALLY SPACED AND OPPOSED HINGE SECTIONS AT ONE END OF SAID CASING, AID HINGE SECTIONS BEING LOCATED AT SAID AIR ACTUATING END ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID APERTURE, (D) SAID HINGE SECTIONS MOLDED IN ONE PIECE WITH THE TWO HALF-SHELLS WITH THE HALF SHELLS SPREAD APART AND BEING FLEXED BY SWINGING THE HALF-SHELLS INTO JUZTAPOSITION AND SAID HINGE SECTIONS UNITARILY JOINING SAID HALF-SHELLS AT THE ENDS OF SAID SIDE EDGES LOCATED AT SAID ONE END OF THE CASING, (E) A LATCH AND CATCH COUPLING MEANS SPACED FROM THE HINGE SECTIONS IN A DIRECTION PERPENDICULAR TO THE ALIGNMENT OF THE HINGE SECTIONS AND AUTOMATICALLY ENGAGING WHEN THE HALF-SHELLS ARE SWUNG INTO JUXTAPOSITION, SAID COUPLING MEANS INCLUDING A LATCH MOLDED IN ONE-PIECE WITH ONE HALF-SHELL AND A CATCH MOLDED IN ONE-PIECE WITH THE OTHER HALF-SHELL, AND (F) A VIBRATORY ELEMENT CARRIED BY SAID CASING AND POSITIONED AND SUPPORTED THEREBY TO BE ACTUATED SO AS TO EMIT A SOUND WHEN AIR FLOWS THROUGH SAID CASING. 